Felidae are known to be solitary predators and they generally do not live in socially structural groups, with the exception of lions. Cats travel alone, hunt alone and only associate with other adult cats for mating. Domestic cats tend to be solitary and do not form large complex social groups. Cats are also very territorial by nature and mark their territory using scent derived from facial glands, feces, urine and anal glands. This territorial marking helps the cat to communicate with other cats and to minimize direct conflict. If another cat encroaches its marked territory an aggressive interaction is maintained by the cat to chase the invading cat off its territory by staring, hissing and growling and if this does not happen to work, through a short noisy violent physical attack. Cats do not invest energy in maintaining social bonds nor do they reconciliate after a conflict (Van den Bos (1998) Post-conflict stress-response in confined group-living cats (Felis sylvetris catus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 59:323-330.
Cats are not aggressive for any reason. There are in fact causes for the aggressiveness, as well as different type of aggression such as intercat aggression caused when two or more cats have a hostile relationship with each other; redirected aggression caused when the cat hears or sees something that it cannot have access to; petting-induced aggression caused by petting beyond the cats tolerance; fear aggression caused when the cat feels backed in a corner with no way out; play-related aggression caused while the cats plays; territorial aggression caused when another animal invades the cats territory; pain-induced aggression caused when one touches a hurting or injured spot on the cat; maternal aggression caused when a cat's kitten is threatened; and unprovoked aggression caused for no reason whatsoever.
Aggressive behavior in cats is often encountered when there are several cats in a sole household that are unfamiliar with each other or when the cats are at a catterie or kennel boarding cats with other unfamiliar cats. Thus it is well known that when a new cat is brought into a household having other cats friction between these felines very often occurs. This is especially true when cats live indoors and are forced to live in close proximity to each other which is foreign to the cat's nature and forces cats into an unnatural social arrangement. Behavioral problems often arise such as territorial urine marking and infighting to establish a dominance controlled hierarchy. In many cases the less dominant cat can develop chronic stress which can result in idiopathic cystitis. In some cases the cat can become a social outcast and won't come out of hiding for meals or to eliminate.
The critical period for a cat's socialization to conspecifics and humans is between two to eight weeks postpartum (Jongman, E C (2007) Adaptation of domestic cats to confinement. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 2; 1920196). Cats that do not have adequate interactions during this period with conspecifics become socially dysfunctional and have inappropriate behavior towards other cats. Poorly socialized cats are more stressed than socialized cats in multi-cat households and have a negative affect on the rest of the group by increasing the other cats stress levels (Kessler M R and Turner D C (1999a) Effects of density and cage size on stress in domestic cats (Felis sylvetris catus) housed singly, in pairs and in groups in boarding catteries. Animal Welfare 6:243-254).
Semiochemicals are chemicals emitted by a plant or an animal that evokes a behavioral or physiological response in another organism. When the semiochemical affects an individual of the same species, it is called a pheromone. When the semiochemical affects an individual of a different species, it is called an allelochemical.
Pheromones are substances released by the body of particular species that cause a predictable reaction by another individual of the same species, which may serve, for example, as a specific attractant, social communicator, sexual stimulant, appeasement and effects basic animal behavior. There are different types of pheromones such as aggregation pheromones that function in defense against predators, mate selection and overcoming host resistance by massive attack; alarm pheromones, which are released when attacked by a predator; epideictic pheromones, which are recognized by insects for signaling other insect that they should clutch elsewhere; releaser pheromones, which are attractant pheromones that some organisms use to attract mates from a distant of two miles or more; signal pheromones, which cause short term changes such as releasing a neurotransmitter which activates a response; primer pheromones, which trigger a change of developmental events; territorial pheromones, which mark the boundary of an animal's territory; trail pheromones, prevalent in insects, such as ants that lay down pheromones as they return to their nest with food; information pheromones, which are indicative of an animal's identity or territory; sex pheromones, which indicate the availability of the female for breeding; cats' facial pheromones that prevents cats from urinating on a marked spot or to prevents anxiety in cats or to familiarize cats in a new environment; and appeasement pheromones, which decrease stress, anxiety and aggressiveness in animals.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,863 discloses a composition comprising an emulsion comprising a mixture of oleic acid, azaleic acid, pimelic acid, and palmitic acid, said mixture capable of preventing cats from urinating in a marked spot; and a compound of vegetal origin that has an attractive effect on cats. It does not describe a semiochemical to reduce social conflicts in cats and/or to improve social facilitation in multi-cat households or catteries or in kennels boarding multiple cats.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,054,481, 6,077,867, 6,169,113, 6,384,252 and 7,723,388 all describe various mammalian and avian appeasing pheromones. However none of these patents describe the management of social conflicts and/or to improve social facilitation in multi-cat households or catteries or kennels that board cats.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide semiochemical compositions for the management of social conflicts in multi-cat households or catteries or kennels that board cats.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method to reduce social conflicts in multi-cat households or catteries or kennels that board cats.
In yet another object is to provide a method to induce social facilitation of cats in multi-cat households or catteries or kennels that board cats.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention as evidenced by the summary of the invention, the description of the preferred embodiments and the claims.